Connect with us

RSS

The UK’s defense secretary is Jewish, a first since the 1990s

(JTA) — Analysts have been scrutinizing the record of Grant Shapps since he was appointed the United Kingdom’s new defense secretary on Thursday.

A fact that may not appear on his resume: he has said that he was once president of a branch of the BBYO Jewish youth movement.

Shapps, a veteran Conservative member of parliament, previously held other Cabinet-level roles under a series of prime ministers — including a total of six days as home secretary under Liz Truss, the shortest stint anyone has had in that position. He replaces Ben Wallace, who announced last month that he would resign after a failed bid to become NATO’s secretary general.

Shapps is the government’s first Jewish defense secretary since Malcolm Rifkind, who served in the post from 1992-1995.

Shapps, who was born to Jewish parents in the southern English county of Hertfordshire, moved on from leading BBYO to studying business at a Manchester university. His brother Andre, meanwhile, played in the band Big Audio Dynamite in the 1990s. The group was founded by their cousin, Jewish rocker Mick Jones — a founding member of the pioneering punk group The Clash.

Shapps, now 54, went on to form multiple printing and web publishing companies, including one that was accused of using fake customer testimonials. After several unsuccessful bids to enter parliament in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he broke through in 2005, winning the seat in Hertfordshire’s Welwyn Hatfield district.

He explained his Jewish identity, religious observance and thoughts on Israel in an interview with the London-based Jewish Chronicle in 2010.

“I don’t eat pork, we only buy kosher meat and we don’t mix meat and milk. I like being Jewish and I married a Jewish girl. It’s like a way of life and it’s good to be able to instil some of that sense of being in your kids,” he said. “All of that makes me seem as though I am quite observant but actually the flipside of this is I don’t know if there is a God or not. But one thing I am absolutely certain of is that God wouldn’t care if you were Jewish or Christian or Muslim.”

He said that while he believes that Israel has a right to exist, he also thinks the country “could have more forward thinking policies,” adding, “I think it is absolutely inevitable that Palestinians will, and have to, have their own state.”

Shapps reassured observers on Thursday that he would continue to take a hard line on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, something his predecessor became known for. A little more than a year ago, Shapps and his wife Belinda took in a Ukrainian family fleeing the war, “inspired by the fact that our families were chased out by pogroms three generations ago in eastern Europe,” he told the U.K. Jewish News.

He traces his interest in politics and his understanding of how it works back to his leadership of BBYO, which has chapters for Jewish teens in several countries.

“It was the first time I was involved in chairing committees, understanding that process, how hidden agendas work, all sorts of leadership training through that period that most people wouldn’t get until they were in work,” he told the Jewish News.


The post The UK’s defense secretary is Jewish, a first since the 1990s appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Continue Reading

RSS

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News